Frankenstein Reborn |
  • USA • 2005 • 84m •    • Directed by: Leigh Scott. • Starring: Rhett Giles, Thomas Downey, Joel Hebner, Eliza Swenson, Jeff Denton, Dan Kaplan, Christina Rosenberg, Sarah Lieving, Amanda Barton, Tim Travers, Matt Kawczynski, Monique Jones, Kandis Erickson. • Music by: Regan.     Demented neurosurgeon Victor Franks (Rhett Giles) creates pure evil in Leigh Scott's modern-day adaptation of Mary Shelley's Gothic novel. The film pays homage to classic 1950s and '60s Hammer Studio horror flicks and sticks close to the original story, but this dark retelling doesn't skimp on the gore and conjures up a truly sinister mad doctor addicted to kinky sex and drugs.
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Review:
The Good News: Another adaptation on the Frankenstein legend, this one isn't all that bad. Instead of doing a straight-up re-visioning, the new twist here is that the doctor is trying to perform valid scientific experiments unrelated to building a creature, which just by coincidence it happens that way. The change is most welcome, as is the quite graphic and brutal killings. We get legs ripped off, ice shards pierced in the stomach, a very messy scalpel slicing and a dissection scene where a body is torn completely open and exposed. There's more in here as well, making this the bloodiest version of the book. The dark and serious tone it has also works wonders for the film, as a light and campy atmosphere would've easily undermined the whole film. It's concept and execution requires the film to not have a constant joke thrown in to keep the viewers attention. It was done the smart way and making the film a little more unsettling. The design of the creature is quite impressive and scary on first look, with exposed bones, frayed skin and tall figure make it a great villain. The rampage scenes are quite well handled and make for some tense stalking moments, especially the sequence with the babysitter in the living room. A quite unexpected surprise.
The Bad News: The decision to tell the story as a series of flashbacks is the main problem with the film. It's told in a rather convoluted manner that doesn't make too much sense. Rather than tell it in a linear frame, and it decides to cut back and forth between events and times, making for some convoluted telling. This doesn't seem to serve any narrative or artistic purpose and only succeeds in slowing down the progression of the story. It also fractures the narrative so much that many of the relationships between the characters become disjointed, this especially hurts the relationship and it's evolution between Franks and the monster which becomes extremely murky as we are never able to see it grow along a linear time-frame. This is the main problem, and it lowers the film slightly.
The Final Verdict: With a slightly annoying approach to the story, this shouldn't be a wrongly maligned film. It's a well made film that will nicely please true horror fans as well as those looking for a little more mean-spirited film than what else is out.
Review by slayrrr666 from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database